Sky Chaser
by Isabella Raven
Summary: Over thirty years ago, Allison Morgan said goodbye to her boyfriend, Horatio, and enlisted in the Air Force, chasing her dreams. Now, she's settled in Miami, never expecting to run into the highschool sweetheart she left behind all those years before.
1. New Places

Disclaimer: Horatio, and the CSI team are not mine. They belong to CBS, etc.

* * *

**New Places**

Allison thumped her head against her pillow as she turned onto her back once more, staring up at the ceiling of her new apartment. The wind gusted outside her window, making the heavy curtains sway, glimpses of the lights of Miami glinting in the night. A car driving by, the distant sound of a siren, the air conditioner in the main room kicking over. No sounds of another human in the room, or even in the unit.

"Damnit," she muttered, closing her eyes again. Even exhausted by a day of moving, and unpacking furniture, she couldn't sleep alone anymore. Hard to change the habits of a lifetime. Over thirty years of military service, sleeping in barracks, or in an apartment with one or another of her fellows; thirty years to get used to the sounds of another human in the same room, or the next room over.

Over thirty years since she felt this alone as she tried to sleep.

She sighed, crawling out of bed, and padding out onto the balcony, leaning against the rail as she looked out over the city street. The summer air wrapped around her, warmer than her last posting, almost comforting as she focused on the memories stirred up as she tried to sleep alone.

_The doctors hadn't treated her like a monster, and her grandmother had stayed with her during the procedure. Promised her that she'd never tell anyone about this trip, about what the real graduation present had been. _

_It didn't chase away the empty feeling once they left the clinic, though, as she tried to remind herself that she had plenty of time for a second chance. Didn't comfort her as she curled in a ball on the hotel bed, trying to sleep, telling herself that she couldn't have decided any other way, once she found out that her care in taking precautions against this end hadn't been enough. Didn't pry the cold fist from around her heart as they returned to New York, and she said goodbye to her boyfriend before leaving to enlist in the Airforce, and chase her dreams of flight and travel._

Allison shook her head, a grimace crossing her face. She'd found something to fill that empty part of her soul in flying and taking care of the planes. Thought she had, at least. Until tonight. Maybe it had just been the people always around her, never alone unless she was flying, and then she never had time to worry about emotions she tried to bury.

"Could have told him. Could have married him," she murmured to herself, wanting to hear the sound of a voice, even if only her own. "Could be a cop's wife, instead of chasing the sky like I dreamed. Or his widow." She chuckled quietly, shifting her weight to lower herself to the concrete, her back against the glass door. Tilting her head back, she looked up at the night sky, picking out stars here and there, idly wondering what had happened to the cute, oh-so-serious boy she'd left in New York to go chasing her dreams.

"What did you do with your life, Horatio? Did you get into the police acadamy, where you had your heart set? Marry some pretty girl and have a family?" She snorted softly, a wry smile touching her lips. "Hopefully you forgot about that headstrong girl who went chasing the sky, and now sits on her balcony talking to herself because she can't get old memories to leave her alone long enough to sleep."

* * *

Allison woke with a start at the sound of a door slamming, blinking at the early-morning sunlight reflected off the building across the street. "Christ on a fucking pogo-stick,"she muttered, rubbing sleep out of her eyes before trying to lever herself upright. She'd meant to soothe her mind, not pass out, coming out to look at the sky. 

She chuckled, glancing up at the clear blue sky. "Still my best and truest love, aren't we, my lovely lady? Soothed me right off to dream-land." Allison shook her head, rubbing her bum to restore circulation to the numb part of her anatomy as she limped into her apartment. "Shower, jog, breakfast, hanger," she murmured, heading for the bathroom.

* * *

"Al! How are you settling in to your new place?" Rick smiled at Allison as she knocked on the open door to his office, waving her in. 

"Miss the snoring." Alilson chuckled as she settled into the empty seat next to his desk. "Still trying to wrap my mind around the concept that I'm a civilian now. Confused one of the other joggers on the beach when he asked for the time."

"You've only been retired for a month, Al." Rick shrugged, leaning back in his seat. "You'll adjust."

"Eventually, yeah, I know." Allison grimaced. "I just forgot how lonely it can be. Civilian life. Had a bitch of a time trying to sleep last night, all alone in the apartment. Too used to sleeping in shared quarters, one way or another." She quirked one corner of her mouth up in a half-grin. "Ended up sleeping on the balcony."

Rick snorted, shaking his head at her. "Always after that sky of yours, Al."

"What else would I want, Rick?" Allison grinned, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "She's my best and truest love, she is. And I believe you said if I retired my sorry sky-chasing arse down to sunny Miami, you'd have a job for me I'd love as much as military life. Or better."

"Now, Al, you know I wouldn't dissapoint you." Rick nodded his head to the metal wall that seperated them from the hanger. "Doc says I shouldn't be flying with the meds he's started me on. Not yet, anyway. And I've been thinking I need another pilot to teach these civilians how to fly those babies."

"Me? Teach people how to fly?" Allison let out a bark of laughter. "Or do mean infect them with the desire to go flying off into that broad blue swath of freedom?"

"Ah, I know you can manage both, if anyone can." Rick chuckled. "You're the most enthusiastic pilot I've met, Al. Wouldn't let anyone tell you to keep your feet on the ground, even if it meant taking risks with your career."

Allison shrugged, leaning back in the chair. "Dreamed of planes and the sky all my life, and the idea of being a flight attendent never really appealed to me. It just isn't the same as flying small aircraft, with only you and the sky." She sighed happily. "Give me time to think about it. Enjoy my retirement for a while."

"You'll be back before the week's over, Al. If only to rent a plane for a few hours." Rick shrugged. "You're always welcome here, you know. And at the house. Emily would love if you'd come by for dinner some night."

"How is she doing, Rick?" Allison leaned forward again, noting the small frown that had accompanied Rick's words.

"She has her bad days, and her good days. Been more bad days than good recently, though." Rick scrubbed one hand through his greying blond hair. "The meds are slowing the progress down, but she's still slipping away a little at a time."

"I wish I could do something." Allison grimaced, glad that the only health issue she knew of in her family wouldn't take away her sense of self before her body failed entirely. Unlike Emily, her mind slowly slipping away to the ravages of Alzheimer's. "Why don't I come by this afternoon? Miami's sights aren't going to vanish in one day, and it's not like I know anyone else down here as well as I know you and Emily."

Rick was silent for a moment, before he shook his head. "Enjoy your afternoon, Al. We'll be glad to see you at dinner, but don't you go getting yourself all frustrated by visiting Emily right now. It's enough that her own family has to deal with her forgetting who they are." He gave her a small smile. "Not going to drag a sky chaser like you down to earth like that."

"Really, Rick, it's not a problem." Allison shrugged, rubbing her hands on the arms of the chair a moment. "But since you insist, I'll go take myself around Miami for the afternoon." She ran one hand through her hair as she stood, resisting the urge to salute him like she had last time she saw him. "See you for dinner, Rick."

"Tonight, Al." Rick nodded a goodbye as she headed out of the office, the smile fading back to the worried expression that he'd worn earlier.


	2. Old Friends

**Old Friends**

Allison looked down the empty strand of beach as she stretched, the sand gilded by the sun just peeking over the horizon, her attention focused inward. She had steeled herself for Emily not knowing her when she went to Rick's for dinner, but it had hit her harder than she expected.

_"She's having one of her bad days, Al." Rick's voice was quiet as he let her into the small house. "Em.. she probably won't know you. She doesn't remember the grandkids at all, and she's thinking Corienne is the wife of one of the officers back at Hanscom." _

_Allison raised an eyebrow. "That was your post before you were my CO." _

_"Yeah."_

She shook her head, stretching her arms over her head once more before starting to jog, trying to focus her mind on the activity, to let the physical movement wash the sting of being forgotten away.

_"Who's this?" Emily looked up from the book in her lap, giving Allison a curious look. "I don't believe you've introduced us." _

_"This is Allison, Em. Sergeant Morgan. We gave her a place to stay after her divorce, before she moved back to the barracks." Rick waved Allison towards a seat. "Have a seat, Al. Dinner isn't quite ready yet." _

_"Mrs. Dennis is really quite kind to invite us all to dinner, don't you think, Sergeant?" Emily smiled, and Allison forced her lips upward into the polite smile. _

_"Yes, she is, Mrs. Short." Allison ran a hand through her hair, trying to dispel the sudden constriction of her chest, the sense that she'd just taken a physical blow._

Allison picked up her pace, pushing herself to her limits. Limits she hadn't tested like this in nearly twenty years. Twenty years since she'd filed for divorce, unable to make Mark understand that she would not give up the planes to raise a family. Would not trade in the sky for children. Would not let the career she treasured go without a fight.

_"Damnit, Al! You wouldn't be giving up a career! Just a change of duties, and no flying those Cessnas for a year. Why is that too much to ask?" _

_"Flying and keeping planes flying **is** my career, Mark!" Allison glared at her husband over the table. "I told you that when we started dating! I thought you understood that!" _

_"We could get a nanny once the baby is born. Just one child, Al!" Mark gave her a pleading look, then ducked as she threw the nearest item to hand at him. The orange splattered against the wall, and Allison stalked towards the door._

She ran along the beach like she'd run the streets and paths of the base that night, trying to outrun the knot in her chest, the hollow feeling she'd only abandoned completely when she was in the air, flying against a backdrop of blue sky, the earth far below her.

* * *

Horatio watched the sun rise over the ocean, his sunglasses dangling from his fingers, letting the crashing of the waves distract him from the desire to go to the lab on his day off. He looked off to his right at the sound of feet slapping against the sand, a slight frown furrowing his brow at the expression on the jogger's face. As if she ran to escape something.

She slowed to a walk as she approached him, nodding in greeting. "Morning. You wouldn't happen to have the time, would you, sir?"

"Six-thirty, ma'am." Horatio tilted his head, raising an eyebrow as she grimaced. "Is something wrong?"

"Not entirely, I suppose. I just expect a better time on two and half miles than half an hour. A month retired, and already I'm getting soft." She chuckled, shaking her head as she streached, watching him curiously. "You look familiar, somehow. Like someone I knew a long time ago." She held out her hand as she straightened up again. "Allison Morgan."

Horatio raised his eyebrows slightly, taking her hand as he replied. "Horatio Caine... If you don't mind me asking, Miss Morgan, where did you go to high school?"

"Same place you did, Horatio." Allison licked her lips, one corner of her mouth twitching upward in a wry grin. "It's been... a long time. Some.. what, thirty years?"

"Over thirty." Horatio hooked his sunglasses in his collar, looking out across the ocean for a long moment. "What.. what brings you to Miami, Allison?"

"Retirement from the Air Force. A job offer that lets me fly as much as I please, with an old friend for my boss." Allison shrugged, shifting her weight back and forth on her feet. "I didn't expect to see you again... Not unless I went back to New York. And I.. never intended to do that."

"Your family?" Horatio looked over at her, a sad smile on his face. He remembered her family, kept in contact with them after she'd left to fly for the Air Force.

"No." Allison held his gaze, and Horatio frowned slightly at the expression on her face. One of deeply rooted pain and shame. "I didn't want to run into you." She looked away, squinting against the sunlight. "Just... some things I never said. And I still don't think I can." She grimaced, shaking her head before looking back at him. "I've got to go, Horatio. New job, and I think I'll tell Rick I'll take it. Nothing like the sky to chase away discomfort."

She walked away without giving him a chance to reply, jogging across the sand to a parked car, looking back at Horatio with a troubled expression one last time before she stepped into the driver's side.

* * *

"Short Hanger, Rick Short speaking."

"Good morning, Rick." Allison paced between unpacked boxes in her living room, mentally berating herself over the awkward meeting on the beach earlier. "I think I'll take you up on that job offer. I just need a few days to settle in."

"Hey, Al. You know, you can still take the rest of the week to think it over if you need it."

"No, no. I'm sure about this. Just... mind if I take one of the planes up today? It's been a few months since I last got up into that sky." She ran one hand through her hair, bouncing up on her toes as she glanced out her balcony door at the clear blue sky. "Just a few hours."

"I have one of the ladies that's not been reserved today." Rick paused, and Allison could see him frowning in concern in her mind's eye. "Are you all right, Al?"

"Just.. ran into someone I haven't seen in a long time. And didn't expect to see."

Rick sighed, and Allison grimaced, wondering how long it would take running that beach to excise the knot in her belly, or fill the hollow feeling in her chest.

"Look, Al. You bring that lady back in one piece, and then talk to someone about it. Before I let you take up a student."

Allison pressed her lips together, rolling her eyes. "It wasn't Mark, Rick. He should be in blasted California, far away from here. With the civilian he settled down with, happily watching his kids go off to college." She snorted. "And good riddence."

"Al."

"Fine. I'll talk to someone. And not just a photograph, either. Promise, Rick."


	3. Close as Family

**Close As Family**

Horatio glanced at the phone number he'd entered once more before pressing the send button, waiting for the person he called to pick up the phone.

"Hello?" A young woman answered the phone, and Horatio licked his lips.

"Donnell Morgan, please. Tell him Horatio Caine is calling."

"Yeah, one moment." He heard her call for her dad, muffled, and the faint sound of someone replying.

A few seconds later, another voice came on the phone, one more familiar to Horatio.

"Hey, Horatio. You caught me just before I headed for my shift. Been years." Donnell paused, drawing in a breath. "What's up?"

"I.. I was wondering if you'd heard from Allison."

"She sent a letter a few weeks ago. Said she was retiring. Think she's moving down your way, she's got an old CO who retired down to Miami. A Rick Short, I think. He and his wife were real good to her after her divorce. She might give me a call once she gets settled in, but I doubt it."

"I see." Horatio paused, looking out the window of his apartment.

"Why do you ask, Horatio?" Donnell sounded worried, and Horatio smiled sadly a moment before replying.

"Just some old memories, Donnell. Just some old memories."

"If you say so. Look, I gotta go, or I'll be late for my shift. Hey, if you see her, tell her to call me. I haven't heard her voice in years."

"I'll do that." Horatio looked up at the sky a moment, wondering what had kept Allison from talking to her brother. He'd remembered them being close when they were all at high school. "You take care, Donnell."

"You too. I'll catch you later, Horatio."

"Later, Donnell." Horatio closed his phone slowly, a small frown on his face. The call had raised more questions than it answered. He tucked the cell back into its usual place on his belt before heading to his car. He needed to know more before he ran into Allison again.

* * *

"You look like you saw a ghost, Al." Rick kept the keys to the plane in hand when he saw her step into the hanger. "What happened?" 

Allison ran a hand through her hair, and gave him a tight smile. "Nothing I want to talk about, Rick. Just... I need to clear my head, and running isn't working. I promise, I won't break your lady. I'll bring her back in one piece."

"This have anything to do with your sudden certainty that you want the job?" Rick raised an eyebrow at her.

"If I tell you it does, will you let me take up a plane as soon as I can clear a flight plan, Rick?"

"Already cleared one for you. Out over the ocean and back. I'll cancel it, though, if I don't think you're up to it."

"I'm good to fly, Rick. Still have all the certs, and you know how I get once I'm up in that sky. Nothing but me, the plane, and mistress sky above and the ground far, far below me. Please, Rick. I need this."

"You going to tell me what happened?"

"I ran into an old friend, Rick. And the rest of it's none of your damned business." Allison glared at him, shifting on her feet, the sky calling to her.

"You got a time set up to talk to someone? A lunch with a friend, a shrink, someone?"

"No."

"Then no. No flying unless you're going to talk to someone. And I mean it, Al. You worried me with that call, and you're not helping your case the way you're acting."

Allison sighed, running her hand through her hair again. "You agreed to this just so you could see how I was doing, didn't you?"

"You wouldn't have come out here otherwise, Al. And I've got to run the business." Rick tucked the keys into his pocket as he took a step closer, reaching out a gentle hand to pat her on the shoulder. "You're family, Al, and I worry about you."

"Yeah." Allison sagged into his hand a moment, before straightening again. "Told you, I ran into an old friend. Someone I never expected to see again. Should have kept better tabs on where he went with his life, might have succeeded in not seeing him again."

"Old flame?"

"Something like that." Allison drew in a deep breath. "And if I can't take one of the ladies up... eh. I might as well go looking for a shrink, just so you can be sure you're not sending up a crazy lady with your students."

"Crazy you're not, Al." Rick gave her a stern look. "Driven, and sometimes a little obssessive about the planes, but not crazy."

Allison chuckled a little. "Maybe, Rick. Maybe not." She turned away, fingering her car keys as she headed out of the hanger.

Rick frowned, shaking his head as he furrowed his brow in concern. "What's gotten into you, Al?" he murmured, before returning to the inspection he'd been doing when Allison arrived.

* * *

"I don't know Sergeant Morgan very well, Mr. Caine." Corienne grabbed her son as he bolted through the kitchen, firmly reminding him that he wasn't to run in the house before letting him go. "Emily knew her longer, but she probably can't help you. Her memory isn't always very good anymore." 

"I understand, Mrs. Short. Is there anything you can tell me?"

"I know my in-laws first met her while she was getting a divorce. And they've kept in touch with her ever since." Corienne shook her head, shrugging. "Really, Mr. Caine, I don't know much. You could ask Rick when he gets back from the hanger. He's hoping to hire her to help him with the students, and he speaks highly of her. As a pilot, and a technician." She paused, a small frown tilting the corners of her mouth down a moment. "If you don't mind me asking, how do you know Sergeant Morgan?"

"We..." Horatio tilted his head slightly, a wistful smile coming to his face. "We went to high school together. I ran into her this morning, and she... was a bit upset, I think."

"I wouldn't be surprised. Emily didn't recognize her when she came for dinner last night. I think she took it pretty hard." Corienne shook her head. "So, high school. It has to be a long time, then. Loose contact?"

"Something like that. I'd rather not talk about it. Would you know when Rick will be home?"

"He usually gets back about seven. The hanger closes at five, but he stays around to make sure the planes are put away. His ladies, he calls them. Takes almost as good care of them as he does Emily. Why don't I give him your number, and have him call you?" Corienne turned, picking up the pad and pen sitting on the counter behind her, and holding them out to Horatio.

"Thank you, Mrs. Short."

* * *

Allison rubbed her arms as she stood on the balcony of her apartment, looking out over the street without really seeing it. Despite the sultry heat of the June evening, goosebumps prickled her skin.

The wind blew steadily off the ocean, the coast a bare five minute walk away from the hotel. She wrapped the blanket tighter around her shoulders, leaning against the balcony door, her eyes drawn up to the sky above her. They sky she'd always dreamed of soaring through, and loved since she was little.

The door shifted behind her, and she shifted her weight so she wouldn't sprawl backwards once it opened.

"Allison, are planning on staying out there all day?"

"Why not? I haven't seen the sky so... free. So empty of clutter. It's beautiful."

"You have seen it that open, Allison."

"Not since last summer. And... not like this." She shook her head. "I don't want to go to the beach, granma. I just..."

She heard her grandmother shift, and a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know. I'm not going to tell you it will be all right. But you made your choice, and you have to live with it. One way or another."

"Yeah." Allison closed her eyes a moment. "I just... I don't know what I'm going to tell Horatio. We were so careful."

"As I would expect of you."

"He thinks this is... a last summer trip with my granma for me before I go off and enlist. I... don't know if I can tell him the truth. He..."

"Does he love you?"

"I... don't know, granma. I think he does. He says he does. But..." Allison gestured helplessly.

"You don't know, and you're frightened?"

"What if he hates me for this?" Allison twisted around to look at her grandmother, fighting back the tears that welled up in her eyes once more. "What if he doesn't understand?"

"Then he's not worth you crying over." She smiled, wrapping an arm around Allison a moment. "But, if he really is the young man he acts he is, I'd think he'd find it in himself to understand your decision to end the pregnancy, Allison. And he'd support you."

Allison sighed, leaning her head against her grandmother's shoulder a moment. "I... I'll figure it out when we get back to New York. Before I leave."

"You do that, sweetheart. Now, how about that walk on the beach?"

"I should have told him, granma," Allison murmured, drawing in a shuddering breath. "I should have told him, and I should tell him now, but... I don't know if I have the strength to do so. Forgive me, but I don't know if I can."

* * *

Author's Note: Apologies for taking so long to post a new chapter. I forgot my password for both my account and my email for the last couple of months, so the chapter's been sitting on my harddrive waiting for me to find where I'd put the password, or to remember the password. I also have a fourth chapter, and I will post that in a week or so. After that, I don't know how often I shall update, as life is busy, and I'm currenly focused on original fiction, so all my fic is languishing. 


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